Ritual of the Tainted Fractal
by Ace Trainer Ritchie
Summary: It was doing it all for love. Remember that. When Takuya arrived in the Digital World for the first time in two years, he was not expecting there to be new Legendary Warriors. Or for him to slowly lose what made him human. All while Millienniummon is attempting to rearrange the world into a place where only it and Ryo could live peacefully. And that's where everything we
1. It Wasn't Like He Was Using It

**1- It's Not Like He Was Using It**

Something felt off as he stepped off the train into this world, into this place familiar but not at the same time. Something felt _off_. Maybe it was the fact he was alone.

Takuya was most definitely sure it was the fact he was alone.

Taking a deep breath, Takuya moved one step off the Trailmon before its doors shut and moved onto the next location. It sorta felt wrong being in the Digital World by himself, but it also felt liberating. No people to talk to, although that could get lonely. But no one to worry about twenty four seven. Because he liked people, but he didn't _like _people. He was still getting used to the being a better person thing, despite it being about two years since he swore it. He was getting better though, which was… an improvement.

Regardless, he still found himself in the Digital World, alone, in front of one singular shop. One singular shop that he had no choice but to enter because of the pure reason that he had nothing better to do. Nothing better to do, nothing better to see. Because even if he wanted to ask for Bokomon and Neemon he still had to ask someone, and maybe this shop would prove to be something.

The moment he walked in he sounded off a bell which caused a scream of one single word, customer, to be heard from the back of the shop. Immediately a Nanomon rushed up to Takuya, sizing him up before rather rudely squinting one eye.

"Listen, I don't fool around with money. Either you have it or you don't, and if it's the later you get out."

"I just want some information, sorry for not buying anything," Takuya said, already sensing that this shop was just a bad idea. But it was also the only place with Digimon that he could think of.

"Information costs money. Or at least, something." The Nanomon folded its arms and turned away from Takuya before turning back to face him. "But if you can supply me something else instead of money, since it's not everyday that _humans _come to my shop, then I suppose we can work out that deal."

"My information first though."

"And I'll determine a price based on what you ask? Deal?"

Takuya extended his hand. "Deal."

Instead of taking the hand, Nanomon wheeled over to the counter, where it hopped onto it to get to eye level with Takuya.

"So do you have any idea where Bokomon and Neemon are?"

"Too vague."

With a sigh, Takuya narrowed it down. "The ones that were with the Legendary Warriors."

"Oh you mean those with the old Legendary Warriors."

Takuya narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean _old_?"

"Old! Out of style, out of the minds of everyone. No one cares about those Legendary Warriors anymore. The ones that are the talk of the town? Those two are the ones we care about now."

"Those two? So what Warriors are they?"

"Time and Space."

Takuya placed his arms on the counter, leaning forward and using the time it took to do that to formulate a response. 'Those sound fake' was a little too blunt, but was also the only thing coming out of his mind, so he was going to say it.

"Who cares. Some of us know they're fake, but they're also real."

"What do you mean?"

"They're actually here. They're not a legend."

"So where can I meet them?" Takuya asked, removing himself from the counter as he waited for Nanomon's response.

"No idea. They're elusive. Hiding. No one's actually seen them."

"Doesn't sound more real than I did."

"Oh? I beg to differ, because instead of saving a dying world, they're saving an active world."

That was just a load of crap. "And who helped create the active world?" he asked, smiling a little bit hoping that Nanomon understood just how important he and his friends were to the world.

"You got me there kid, but unlike a legend in a story we can't meet, the general public can actually dream of meeting these guys. That's what makes it so different."

"But here I am."

"And can you transform? Can you do anything more than a normal human?"

Takuya bit his tongue. He couldn't. He was ripped from his spirit and his phone remained a phone this time sadly. There was no going back to the life he once lead. "But -"

"Exactly. You can't prove anything. No one wants a story they can't believe. So they rather believe these new ones, regardless of how absurd they are. Because at the end of the day, they're still helping Digimon. At the end of the day, they have power."

"So where can I meet them?" Takuya asked, changing the subject. He couldn't win with that, no matter how much it hurt him. He was powerless, metaphorically and literally. But maybe if he talked to these warriors, then, just maybe, he could get the Digimon to believe in _him_, not these phonies that stole his name.

"Like I said, no idea. You don't listen, do you?"

"Fine." Although that insult did _not _fly above his head. "What do they look like?"

"Well, they're humans. And that's all we know. Listen, we don't know much, so you're better off asking something else. For the record, no I don't know where Bokomon and Neemon are, those two Digimon are beyond what I care about."

"Then what do you care about?"

For once it was Nanomon's turn to pause. "What I care about it gone."

"And it's my job to help fix that." Nanomon raised an eye to what Takuya said. "Legendary Warrior and all that, y'know. We help the Digimon."

"Then the payment."

Takuya swung his satchel in front of him instead of his side, half expecting Nanomon to want something that was on him, but Nanomon simply shook its head.

"I'd need you to come to the back," it said while jumping off the counter and moving to a door right behind it. Once it swung open Takuya got a glimpse of electronics and heavy computers, which was completely different from outside the room. The actual shop itself was a bunch of scattered electronics, put in such an order because Nanomon felt like putting it in that order, instead of actually organizing it by any semblance of sense. Inside the room though, as Takuya stepped in, was a kept and orderly room filled with computers and monitors hanging all over the walls. Even the cords, which Takuya, in his limited computer knowledge, would assume was the hardest to keep up with, were all tucked away neatly somewhere. The place was, impressive to put it in the least.

And in the middle of it all was a cot. A cot that looked like a medium sized Digimon could fit in, with clasps to… hold… someone… in…

Takuya was getting out of there.

"I really don't think -"

"You promised me anything. Now lay down."

"What are you going to do?" His voice wavered. He wasn't going to _die _just because he wanted some information, right?

Right?

"Lay down or I will actually kill you. You're just a human, even I could fight you and win."

With a nervous smile, Takuya made his way to the cot. Nanomon hopped to a computer, typing away before coming to see Takuya laying down, and securing him to the cot. It then took a device that had the same end on both sides and stuck one end to Takuya's heart, one end to where Takuya assumed its heart was before taking it off and moving a button closer.

'_This better not kill me.' _Although the threat of actually being killed did wonders to curve his anxiety. Not.

Nanomon placed the device on its chest again, pressing the button that it brought over. Takuya closed his eyes, expecting some kind of pain, but nothing happened.

At least, not at first.

Two seconds later he screamed at the top of his lungs, thrashing about in cot itching to be let out. It was too much. His heart was being sucked out. Said heart skipped a beat. Said heart jumped in his throat which proved it wasn't being ripped away but oh god did it feel like it was. Eventually Takuya bit down on his tongue, because the screaming he was doing was causing pain to his ears, although he could barely feel that pain over the pain in his chest. Doing this though resulted in him crying, which he thought was absolutely… wrong. He shouldn't cry. But those wet tears streamed down his face, the only somewhat pleasant experience of this whole thing, despite wet tears feeling gross. Plus biting down on his tongue only worked in the short while. Eventually the pain became so much he felt that he couldn't scream. No. He gasped for air. Tried breathing, but felt like he was failing. But he was alive, because he felt pain. That was the only reason why he knew he was alive. Although he was wishing he was dead.

But almost a full minute of this pain, Nanomon turned off the switch and Takuya once more gasped for air, before closing his eyes due to the pain and drifting away to sleep.

The last thing he remembered was something Nanomon said, and even then that wasn't clear. "Thanks for the passion," it said. But none of that made sense.

He must've been delusional

* * *

.

When Takuya came to, the restraints that left marks on his hands were no longer, letting him get off of the cot and out of the room that Nanomon lead him too.

He was about to ask Nanomon a question when he noticed the store was filled with Digimon of various shapes and sizes, and Nanomon was actually engaging with one of the customers. Which would've been fine, if Nanomon didn't seem desperate for customers earlier.

Which meant he helped, bu he wondered how as he stared down at his hands, twisting them to make sure no more damage has been done. He felt fine… well, he could still remember the pain, but he barely felt different. Barely. But even if something was different it wasn't like he could place it. It felt so tiny, so miniscule, that it didn't even matter.

Maybe it was just, nothing.

Either way, Takuya slipped past the customers, taking his leave out of the shop, scanning the area for anything else to do, but there was nothing to do aside from waiting for the Trailmon. Which was what he eventually did, sitting down at the station's bench with his arms spread out on either side, relaxing despite blacking out earlier. That was just too much, so more rest while being on the move was in order.

Takuya didn't have many options, but he knew two of them. Find these new 'Legendary Warriors' and find Bokomon and Neemon. Yet as he thought about the first one the idea of them challenging him to a fight crossed his mind more than once, so maybe add finding his spirit on to the list. Wait, not maybe, it felt weird being in this world without it.

The only problem was figuring out where to go for information.


	2. A Series of Terrible Events

**2- A Series of Terrible Events**

Nanomon's little shop was in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it was in the middle of somewhere, but Takuya had zero sense of direction. And that zero turned into a huge negative number that Takuya didn't even want to think about.

So in actuality, even if he knew where to get information he wouldn't know exactly where to go. He assumed finding Bokomon and Neemon was a priority to him, but he wasn't necessarily sure if he should find them after he got things figured out or while getting things figured out.

What he did know though, was that if he went with the former option, well… he had a lead. Those warriors he wanted to meet. According to Nanomon no one knew where they were, but people had to know _something. _They couldn't just worship something without knowing anything about them, right?

There was just one problem, he had no idea where to go. The Trailmon just dumped him here before pulling out, just like old times. So he had to be at some kind of terminal… That he could probably go to, hitch another ride, and get off at some crowded location. That was sound, it sounded logical. Especially considering someone would tell him his plans weren't logical at all.

So Takuya walked to the train station, his spirits high as Digimon walked away from Nanomon's shop, bags in tow, walking towards the train station with him. The customers chatted amongst themselves as Takuya strained to listen in case those fake warriors were mentioned. They weren't - the shoppers were far more concerned with what they brought instead of anything related to the world. Which was _fine _he guessed, just he kinda had to figure out how to get the information he needed and didn't want to barge in one random Digimon and ask because he knew that would lead into a fight. But eventually the Trailmon pulled in, their conversations stopped and everyone got on.

Takuya sat by himself on the train, putting his satchel as far away from him as possible so no Digimon would sit next to him, because he didn't want a conversation, he just wanted to listen.

One stop in, a stop where not many got off, two Digimon walked in, and they sat on either side of Takuya, who didn't bother to move the satchel, only wishing he had another so the second one couldn't be so close. Close enough he could feel the breathing on his neck, a dog panting on his neck. It was a Dogmon, which was absolutely perfect. Takuya just definitely needed those troublemakers in his life.

"We could get a pretty penny if we trade this in," the Dogmon said, still panting on the side of Takuya, who was scrunched up hoping to take up the least amount of space to avoid being touched. Which, needless to say, caused Dogmon to just press up closer to him, panting on his neck, like he was some kind of chew toy.

The other, which was a WereGarurumon , like the last time Takuya ran into a Dogmon, grabbed him by the chin, something Takuya tried to resist but failed oh so miserably. "Yeah it would give us a pretty penny. An even prettier one if it was a Legendary Warrior."\

As it said that the doors of the Trailmon opened and Takuya was dragged off of it by WereGarurumon with a Dogmon following him, preventing him from going back on the train.

The stop wasn't overly crowded. Takuya could see a few shops in the distance, but it was mostly a clearing, like how Nanomon's shop was, only without the shop in the middle of the tracks. If he could, Takuya would make a b-line for the shops, but he couldn't. All he could do was stand there, each hand held by either WereGarurumon and Dogmon, before they were finally let go and he stood there, rubbing his hands clean as if they were plain flithy. Which they were technically, but it was more disgust that they even got to him..

"Evolve," the WereGarurumon ordered and Takuya turned around, his eyes narrowed and his mouth pulled back.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard the 'mon, evolve," Dogmon said, to which Takuya sighed.

"You guys don't understand how this works."

"We just want to know if you can evolve or not, that way we don't look like fools in the pawnshop."

_Great so you can pawn off humans. _

"I can't," he stated, jerking his head to the sky, where he noticed two suspicious Digimon flying around. To be fair, Takuya was used to Digimon in the sky, but these were far too huge and seemed even more special than the standard Biyomons and Falcomons that soared.

"Come on, you didn't even try!" Dogmon said.

"I'm human. Do you seriously think I can evolve?"

They both growled before WereGarurumon took a step forward, making a fist before aiming it straight at Takuya, who very clumsily managed to dog it but not without some skin getting grazed.

"That's for the attitude," it said and it was in that moment Takuya realized he was meant to dodge that one. The others he probably wouldn't be able to dodge so easily.

Takuya looked back at the sky, to which he saw those Digimon were gone. Immediately after noting that, he heard the sound of footsteps. WereGarurumon and Dogmon turned around, faced with two humans, one with spiky brown hair and another with medium length dark blue hair.

"I kindly ask you to stop this," the latter said, his voice sounding strong and like he knew what he was doing. But he had no protection. Like Takuya did, but why would a human step in the affairs of another human when it was clearly dangerous.

"Boss! It's, it's them!"

_Them? _

"Perfect, now we can be rich!"

Takuya blinked his eyes, and the moment he opened them both WereGarurumon and Dogmon were on the floor, too beaten up to actually do anything. Takuya blinked again, this time in surprise instead of just a natural process and when he opened them the two of them started walking towards him. Once they reached him, the boy who spoke placed his hands on Takuya's face, examining it to make sure nothing bad was there.

"He's one of them," the brown hair kid said.

The dark blue kid's face turned from one of care to disappointment. He removed his hands from Takuya's face and whispered "why" over and over again as he shook his head.

"One of what? And I have some questions for you guys if you don't mind," Takuya said, shrugging as if he could shrug off the disappointment in the kid's face. But he couldn't, the face stayed the same, and Takuya heard him mumble something. The only thing he could make out was some Digimon that started with an M.

"We need to go our separate ways, you aren't passionate."

"_What_?" He was _plenty _passionate, excuse them.

The dark haired kid walked away while the brown haired kid stayed, shoved his hands in his pockets, and whispered something before turning around to follow his partner.

If those were the new warriors…

...Takuya had _many _bones to pick.


End file.
